Jemilev: Europe can give in to Russia by relaxing sanctions

Germany is advocating a gradual lifting of sanctions against Russia if there is progress with implementation of the Minsk agreements.

KIEV (QHA) -

Speaking at the Crimea’s Future international youth forum, Mustafa Jemilev, Leader of the Crimean Tatar people, said that the European Union may relax sanctions against Russia, which is the only working mechanism for effective opposition to Russian occupation.

"Sanctions are crucially important, but there is a possibility that they might be relaxed ... After the occupation of Crimea, I had to make more than 60 trips abroad explaining the importance of taking decisive action to the world community,” said Jemilev.

Jemilev went on to say that solving the problem militarily is not an option to Ukraine.

According to Jemilev, the Mejlis delegation keeps bringing up the question of merging the sanctions, as there is no mention of occupied Crimea in the Minsk agreements.

“Russia blatantly disregarded all international treaties and international law. After the Russian-Georgian conflict, one could see how aggressive and unpredictable Russia could be. There is now a folk saying: Russian passports are always followed by Russian tanks,” Jemilev said.

It was reported earlier that Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko called US Vice President Joseph Biden to stress the need to toughen sanctions against the Russian Federation for systemic violations of the Crimean Tatars’ rights in occupied Crimea.